Means for emulsifying sizing and the like products



S T C U D O R P E K I EL Mm Nmm El Kw ls RAM W W Hwn n NS m M E R O F m5 E 5 M 9 1 am 2 .w H J Filed April 29, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet l July 26,1955 HENRI EICKEN 2,713,998

KNOWN AS ESTIENNE MEANS FOR EMULSIFYING SIZING AND THE LIKE PRODUCTSFiled April 29, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 2,713,998 lfatenied July 26, 1955fifice IllEANS FOR EMULSIFYENG SHZHJG AND THE LIKE PRQDUCTS HenriEicken, known as Estienne, Lyon, France Application April 29, 1954,erial No. 426,42ll Claims priority, applicationFrance May 18, 1953 4Claims. ((Il. 25995) The sizing methods generally resorted to in weavingplants consist in coating the threads forming the warp of the fabricwhich is to be woven by means of a thin and yielding film of an adhesiveproduct with a view to increasing the mechanical resistance of thethread.

According to the nature of the textile material to be sized, products ofvarious origins may be used, but in all 7 cases it is of the utmostimportance to obtain a perfect emulsion.

it is already difiicult to obtain emulsions which are fully satisfactoryfor the sizing of textile materials other than cotton and the likefibres, but it is almost impossible in the case of the sizing of cottonwarps to obtain such emulsions because the basis of the adhesive used insuch cases is always potato starch, rice starch or the like product.

As a matter of fact, the preparation of the size containing saidproducts requires first, during the baking operation, the use ofmechanical mixing and stirring apparatuses and further, the obtention ofvery fine and stable emulsions being extremely important, it isnecessary to make the adhesive pass after the baking step throughhomogenizing means with a view to mechanically breaking up the particlesof starch which have not been dissociated. All this requiresresorting toa comparatively intricate and costly machinery which does not even yieldan entirely satisfactory product.

Furthermore, an adhesive, it well prepared, always assumes a tendency,when it has been transported into the sizing vats of the machine, todecompose and to form clots, a phenomenon ascribable to the structure ofthe product and to the fact that it has been broken mechanically. Thisresults obviously in a detrimental action on the sizing procedure,however carefully the preparation of the size has been carried out.

The arrangement forming the object of my invention is adapted to removevery simply the above drawbacks, while cutting out the arrangementsrequired nowadays for baking and homogenizing the adhesive and therebyobtaining for the sizing procedure, whatever may be the components ofthe sizing material, perfect suspensions at all stages including, ofcourse, the stage corresponding to the actual operation of the sizingmachine.

To this end, a portion of the emulsifying bathis caused to pass througha conical nozzle ending with a parallelsided slot directing the bathonto a plate extending in the direction of the liquid stream inside theactual body of the bath, whereby the liquid jet passing out of saidnozzle and impinging on said plate produces in the latter supersonicresonance waves which are transmitted to the'actual bath.

My invention will be readily understood from the reading of thefollowing disclosure, reference being made to accompanying diagrammaticdrawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic showing of a plant for the execution of myimproved method of preparation of sizing suspensions;

Fig. 2 illustrates diagrammatically an arrangement for use on the actualsizing machines with a view to maintaining a perfect and stablehomogeneity of the sizing suspension;

Figs. 3 and 4 are longitudinal cross-sections in two planes at 90 fromeach other showing the detail of the actual means producing thesupersonic waves;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view on an enlarged scale of thenozzle forming part of said means, the section being made through line55 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 6 is an end view, partly sectional, of the said nozzle through line6-6 of Fig. 4.

In Fig. 1 is shown the wall of a vat 1 serving for the preparation ofthe size, said vat being connected through the pipe 5 with the auxiliarycontainer 2. Inside the container 2 is housed the arrangement 3producing the supersonic waves. A pump 4 inserted in the pipe 5 isconnected therethrough on one hand with the vat 1 and on the other handwith the container 2. A valve 6 allows adjusting the pressure of theliquid delivered by the pump to the container 2. A shunt pipe connectsthe output of the pump 4 with the arrangement 3 producing the supersonicwaves, which arrangement opens into the mass of liquid carried insidethe container 2.

As shown in Fig. 2, the arrangement 3 is secured inside thesize-containing vat of a sizing machine and the pump 4 inserted in thepipe 5 is connected through the latter respectively with the vat 1 andwith the arrangement 3 to feed the latter. A manometer allows readingthe pres.- sure in the pipe 5 and a by-pass provided with a valve 6 isadapted to divert an adjustable throughput of liquid away from thenozzle of the arrangement 3. This. nozzle is carried in both cases (Fig.1 and Fig. 2) by two flanges 8 (Figs. 3 and 4) which are adapted to holdbetween them the wall of the container 2 in the case of Fig. l, or else,

that of the vat 1 in the case of Fig. 2. These flanges serve in bothcases as carrier guides for a tubular member 9 which extends through thewall of the vat or of the container and the rear end 10'of which isthreaded. A tapped ring 11 allows adjusting the distance d between theactual nozzle 12 at the front end of the tubular member 9 and thevibratory plate 18 described hereinafter. The front end of the tubularmember 9 forms the conical nozzle 12 which is provided with a slot 13having parallel sides and the lateral ends of which are closed bytongues 14 (Fig. 6). A nut 15 allows closing said nozzle against theelasticity of the two sections separated by the slot 13 or else itallows its expansion through its actual elasticity, whereby said nut itadapted to adjust the breadth of said slot and consequently the outputof the nozzle, a frusto conical ring being fitted between the nut andthe nozzle.

To the sleeve 16 rigid with the flange 8 and-extending inside the vat 1or 2 are screwed two plates 17 carrying between them a rectangular plate18 lying in the plane defined by the jet passing through the slot 13.Said plate 13 is secured to the plates 17 by projections 19 and 29extending through elongated openings 21 and 22 provided in the saidplates 17, said projections 19 and 29 being rigid with the longitudinalsides of the plate 18 and lying in the plane of thelatter. The screws 23(Fig. 4) acting laterally on the plate 18 allow adjusting ittransversely with reference to the carrier plates 17 and consequently ina direction perpendicular to the slot 13.

The system disclosed operates as follows: the liquid to be emulsifiedwhich is fed by the pump 4 in the case of Fig. 1, passes through thepipe 5 while its pressure is adjusted by the valve 6 in the by-pass;said liquid is delivered at a more or less considerable speed by thenozzle 12 of the arrangement 3 and produces, as it impinges on the plate18 edgewise, a resonant vibration thereof. The frequency of saidresonancerdepends, on one hand, on the distance d separating the nozzlefrom said plate 18 and, on the other hand, on the output speed of theliquid delivered by the nozzle. This frequency is given by the quotientaa ans distance d If the distance d and the output speed are suitablywith the formula:

The power W required for operation depends on the pressure p in thenozzle 12 and on the volume V, expressed in cubic cm. per second,passing out of said nozzle. Said power is expressed by:

A suitable adjustment of the breadth of the slot 13 in the nozzle, andof the distance d between the nozzle and the plate 18, allows obtainingan optimum supersonic vibratory frequency corresponding to therequirements of the substances used so as to obtain a perfect emulsion.

. As a matter of fact, the pump 4 (Fig. 1) having a large throughputdelivers a fraction of the liquid passing through the pipe 5 to thearrangement 3 which operates in the manner disclosed, while anotherfraction of the liquid is diverted so as to pass into the container 2 tobe emulsified as it passes through said container.

In the case of the preparation of a sizing solution for w) the sizing ofcotton for instance, it is suflicient to fill the vat 1 with asufficient amount of water and to incorporate thereto the desired amountof starch so as to obtain, after the pump 4 has rotated a few minutes, aperfectly uniform emulsion, the homogeneity of which is far greater thanthat obtained through any prior purely mechanical means. As a matter offact, the emulsion obtained through my improved method is much morestable than an emulsion obtained mechanically. Since the arrangementdisclosed may also be mounted directly in the sizing vats of sizingmachines, as illustrated in Fig. 2, it is possible to keep the solutionused for sizing purposes in a perfect state of emulsification throughoutthe duration of the sizing procedure while cutting out the production ofclots and allowing the size, by reason of its perfectly homogeneousstructure, to penetrate more readily into textile fibres with which itis in contact.

Obviously, my invention is not limited to the sole embodiments disclosedof an arrangement for homogenizing sizing baths and it covers all themodifications thereof falling within the scope of accompanying claims.

What I claim is:

1. An arrangement for emulsifying a bath of a sizing product or thelike, comprising a container for at least a part of the bath to beemulsified, a tube including a threaded section and a terminalfrustoconical nozzle adjacent the threaded section and opening into thebath in the container through a slot with parallel sides, tonguesclosing the smaller ends of said slots, a nut screwed over the threadedsection of the tube, an intermediate frustoconical ring engaged by thesaid nut for longitudinal motion therewith and fitted over saidfrustoconical nozzle to adjust the cross-sectional area of the slot inthe latter in Iii) 4 accordance with the relative longitudinal positionof th ring with reference to the nozzle, means feeding a fraction of thebath to said nozzle through said tube to produce a jet through saidslot, a plate immersed in the container in a plane registeringsubstantially with the plane of the jet produced by said rectilinearslot of the nozzle, said immersed plate being adapted to vibrate atsupersonic frequency under the action of the jet, the supersonicfrequency under the action of the jet the surrounding part of the bath.

2. An arrangement as in claim 1 further comprising means for partlyrecycling a vibrated part of the bath back as a fraction entering thenozzle-feeding means.

3. An arrangement for emulsifying a bath of a sizing product or thelike, comprising a container for at least a part of the bath to beemulsified and provided with an opening in a side wall, a tube includinga terminal nozzle opening into the bath in said container through arectilinear slot, said tube passing through the opening in the sidewallof the container, flanges secured to said tube to either side of theside wall of the container to hold it in position with reference to saidside wall, intermediate plates rigidly secured to the flange on theinside of the container and extending perpendicularly to and to eitherside of the elongated slot in the nozzle, means feeding a fraction ofthe bath to said nozzle through said tube to produce a jet through saidslot, a plate immersed in the container and secured to the intermediateplates perpendicularly thereto in a plane registering substantially withthe plane of the jet produced by said rectilinear slot of the nozzle,said immersed plate being adapted to vibrate at supersonic frequency,means for adjusting the pressure and the velocity of said jet to makethe supersonic vibrations produced by the plate thus submitted edgewiseto the impact of the jet, assume a predetermined value, the supersonicvibrations of the plate being transmitted to the surrounding part of thebath.

4. An arrangement for emulsifying a bath of a sizing product or thelike, comprising a container for at least a part of the bath to beemulsified and provided with an opening in a side wall, a tube includinga terminal nozzle opening into the bath in said container through arectilinear slot, said tube passing through the opening in the sidewallof the container, flanges secured to said tube to either side of theside wall of the container to hold it in position with reference to saidside wall, intermediate plates rigidly secured to the flange on theinside of the container and extending perpendicularly to and to eitherside of the elongated slot in the nozzle, means feeding a fraction ofthe bath to said nozzle through said tube to produce a jet through saidslot, a plate immersed in the container in a plane registeringsubstantially with the plane of the jet produced by said rectilinearslot of the nozzle, means for securing said vibratory plate to theintermediate plates and adapted to adjust the location of the vibratoryplate in a direction transverse to the plane of the jet, said immersedplate being adapted to vibrate at supersonic frequency, means foradjusting the pressure and the velocity of said jet to make thesupersonic vibrations, produced by the plate thus submitted edgewise tothe impact of the jet, assume a predetermined value, the supersonicvibrations of the plate being transmitted to the surrounding part of thebath.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED ST TES PATENTS

